More Collected Wisdom of former Oklahoma quarterback Steve Davis

Former Oklahoma quarterback Steve Davis died Sunday night. OKLAHOMAN ARCHIVE PHOTO

NORMAN — In mid-December, I e-mailed former Oklahoma quarterback Steve Davis to set up a telephone interview.

I wanted to visit with him for our weekly feature called “Collected Wisdom,” which is an interview with a prominent sports figure about their life, what sports has meant to them and why they believe sports matter. It appears each Sunday in The Oklahoman.

Here was Davis’ e-mail response that morning:

Jason,
Good hearing from you today.  I’m headed off to workout this morning but could be available around 9:30 this morning if that works.  I appreciate you thinking of me but do wonder if I have a substantive amount of ‘collected wisdom’ to offer.  We’ll see……thanks.
Steve 

As it turned out, Davis had collected more wisdom over his life than The Oklahoman had space in the Sunday, Dec. 30 newspaper. You can read the “Collected Wisdom of Steve Davis,” as published by clicking here.

Here is more from that interview with Davis, who died Sunday night in a small plane crash in Indiana.

I just learned so much from the experience of teamwork and cooperation, and working toward goals. Are you the kind of guy that will pay the physical, emotional and spiritual price that it takes to be part of a team? I was so blessed, especially when I was in Sallisaw, to have wonderful coaches that understood the bigger picture, and saw in me early on some raw talent and really encouraged me to dream big dreams.

The lessons that football teaches are invaluable life lessons. It’s the one great thing about sport; if you have the fortune to play in an environment when you have coaches that get it and understand the bigger picture and bigger goal. If you have that type of opportunity and that type of coach, they are lessons that will stick with you forever and ever.